Google Considers Subscription Business Models for Its New AI Offerings

Google CEO Sundar Pichai suggested the company could embrace subscription business models for some of its new AI products. 

During the third-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak asked about Google's investments in AI for Search and how Wall Street should think about future returns from this capital deployment. 

"Are there any examples that you're seeing with SGE or Bard on higher utility, higher conversion rates, more engagement, just something to sort of show a signal around the return that could come from these investments?" Nowak said. 

He was referring to Google's Search Generative Experience, a new version of Search that includes generative AI capabilities, and Google Bard, the company's chatbot rival to ChatGPT. 

"I've been pretty pleased with how the user feedback has been on SGE," Pichai said. "We are rolling it out to more users."
With AI, the CEO said there's an opportunity to evolve Search and the Google Assistant service over the next decade.
"Over time, there will be newer paths, just like we have done on YouTube," he added. "I think with the AI work, there are subscription models as a possible path as well."